How strict are your rules

How strict are your forum rules? How strict are you with them? WHat is your means of enforcement?

I'm not much of a rules guy...

I'm pretty easy going in my forums. No spam is probably the "rule" I enforce the most. I enforce it with my delete key :D

Before you have a lot of rules to worry about there has to be a reason to have rules for forum conduct.

I think the basic rules, no spamming, no insulting other members for no reason, no attacking someone's website are good to have, but on the forum circuit flame wars tend to follow members from forum to forum.

So you have to find out why folks are attacking each other by PM's before you ban a member for breaking the rules.

I have moderators that follow me from forum to forum that have banned me from their forums and I tell them to go to hell at Digital Point all the time.

If the first couple of posts are SPAM?... BAM! There gone! :p

I think it depends very much on the forum. My PsychLinks forum is very closely monitored and all rules about posts very strictly enforced (no questions asked, no appeals) because of the nature of the forum and the kind of members who come there (many have specific sensitivities and emotional triggers). At the Band of Gonzos forum, we are more laid back and tolerant.

DigitalPoint is an example of a good forum with almost no rules that works because its members know what to expect. It does at times go overboard to the point where I wish Shawn would have a few more rules he enforces, but I know when I log in what I'm going to get -- if I don't like the free-wheeling type of forum, I can go somewhere else.

Other forums are anal-retentive without reason... they almost seem to be enforcing rules purely because they can, to flex their moderator muscles, I guess. That can be a lot more annoying than not enough rules, IMO.

in my experience, the more strict a forum is with the rules, the more harsh they are with punishments, the more likely they will fail.

As I said, it depends on the type of forum. The PsychLinks one has been quite successful, and in part that's because I said up front that I was going to be vigilant in protecting member privacy and in making the forum a safe place for members to come to seek help and support. In that type of forum, the strict monitoring and enforcement of rules encourages members to register and post.

The Band of Gonzos is a web development/SEO-SEM forum and has a different approach entirely.

I think that envrioment demands thise rules and its understandable and logical to the members- Its when you have a admin/dictator that the problems start

Agreed. I think a forum owner should ask what purpose is served by a rule and what harm is done by a member breaching the rule... if the answer to either or both is essentially "none" then just back off and let your forum members be.

Even when I have a problem, I try to handle it quietly, professionally, and friendly, and it generally works.

Only rules we have are the one that come with registration..

Never really saw the need,we don't tolerate personal abuse thou and have banned a few for it but in general we've not seen the need to have any..

IMHO if you set down rules your site will not get visited as often :o

Well, my Psychlinks forum is less than a year old, ranks in the top 5 for most relevant search terms on Google, outranks a number of much older similar forums, and averages between 250 and 400 visitors per day. I don't think clear rules have hurt me there at all.

I agree, Minstrel is serving a different crowd on his Dr. David forum.

Some folks are on the edge and can not be disturbed because they are reaching out for help and the last thing they need is a smart ass insulting them. :confused:

That kind of conduct would ruin that forum and Minstrel is correct for running it that way. :cool:

without a doubt

sometimes it also helps to use spammers for entertainment purposes

I agree there

I personally believe that low moderation = high participation and vice versa. A hijacked thread can always get back on track and I rather see some arguments than a closed discussion. That is how we all learn. There will always be some goofballs who need to be censored once in a while but generally I go for lesse faire.

Rules stink, but we have three guaranteed to get you banned for good

Post illegal stuff and you go.
Post porno and you go
Post personal information on another member and you go

Create Multiple IDs and you are sent to the “Troll House” where we point and laugh at you during your punishment period – and members jack with them all the time.

Start a fight in the wrong thread and fail to stop after you are warned and you are sent to the Troll House for punishment.

I remember the old days on afternic.com where there was no moderation at all ... true, that is bad ... and that place went downhill quick

The rules I have for my forum are relativly simple , and they are enforced . Biggest one for me , is no bashing/being judgemental of other members . That is the fastest way I know of to run off a new member . If they knew the correct answer to their question , they wouldn't be there , asking for help . Having come form a couple of forums who allowed that kind of behaviour (and being on the bashed end) I simply won't tolerate it in my own forum .

As for discipline - I use a three strikes and you're out kind of thing . First offense gets a warning , second a one week ban , third a permanent ban . However - I judge each issue on a case by case basis - and severe violations result in immediate banning .
While I am strict on my rules , it hasn't stopped people from joining my forum - at least , before I moved it , again , lol .

Agree, keeping a good vibe going is essential. I also believe in chastising someone in private. Otherwise it will look REALLY bad and scare people to post the wrong thing. Unless of course someone is being a complete jerk ... then it's showtime :D

I firmly believe in rules, and my team & I certainly work very hard in enforcing them on my site.

My rules are based around the 'Family Friendly' and fair play to all concept, and I have had many more unexpected emails from parents thanking me for running a professional site where they are happy to allow their children (under 16's) to roam freely within it, than from disgruntled members who want to spout abuse, pick on individuals, post spam and use unecessary bad language.

However, the general message within this excellent thread is that having rules or not is down to the nature and ambience you want to create on your forum. Some forums are more suited to having no rules at all, some to having just a few rules, and others to have a full rulebook...;) As Admins and owners, we need to be responsible to our membership, and whether rules are used and if/how they are enforced is a judgement call we all need to make.

I guess my site is aimed more towards an adult crowd. I'm pretty lenient when it comes to language. There are a couple rules I do enforce. I don't allow bashing other people from other sites, or the sites they post on. They can talk all they want about other sites, but never negative name dropping. If they bash another member, I let the member stand up for themselves first before taking any action.

I will give MANY warnings before I give out bannings. I treat members the way I would want to be treated. Why belong to a site that is so eager to hand out punishments. I've only had to ban one member from my board. Banning is a last resort.

I have the very basic, dont be an idiot type rules that are there for reading upon forum registration, and we all know they are never really read.

So what I basically do is let conversation take its own course, and just make sure it is kept somewhat on topic when the thread or thread category warrants it. Once it turns into a personal 2-3 person aguement, I let it ride for a page or so, then PM the folks involved to wrap it up as it is turning into something bad for the site. If it continues, thread gets closed.

Things I really watch for is
grudges - where member #1 will chase member #2 all around the forum just to argue. That gets stopped pretty quickly, because nobody wants to see it.

Spam or Porn - about the only thing I will delete from my forum. Well, I at least move the porn to the moderator form. ;)

Language - no censoring whatsoever, however, if you are making a point to cuss, just to cuss, I will say something eventually

For the most part though, with just under 200 members so far, I just basically let everything go. Have only had to get involved a couple times, both with the same two people.

I think we have basic rules on our forum.

1. Treat all members with respect. Respect their values, beliefs, ideas, etc. You may attack another person's opinion, you may NOT attack them.

2. Obey the moderators and staff. They work hard at maintaining this site. If you need to raise an issues about a specific moderator or staff member please contact an Administrator.

3. Posting/submitting pornographic, racist, or anything else a staff member feels is offensive to any member is grounds for immediate banning.

I read a lot of different TOS before writing mine. It was a hybrid of a bunch of different ones posted on www.theadminzone.com. The enforcement is using the advanced warning system hack on vb.org.

I've seen too many forums start out and get big while having no rules. Depending on the forum content, there can be liability exposure. The other thing is that once you want to start having rules, your member base just wants to revolt. All while you're footing the bill. After seeing this, I decided to have rules in place and enforce them as I see fit. Seems to work so far and it's keeping people in line pretty well.

I read a lot of different TOS before writing mine. It was a hybrid of a bunch of different ones posted on www.theadminzone.com (http://www.theadminzone.com). The enforcement is using the advanced warning system hack on vb.org.

Shame though that the rules on the site you mention don't allow you to offer constructive and pragmatic criticism of their own site... offering insight into how things could be improved etc... somewhat arrogant and self righteous in approach. It is always good to listen to your membership - especially if they have financially contributed/sponsored voluntarily - and not to take your money and run!!!

Shame though that the rules on the site you mention don't allow you to offer constructive and pragmatic criticism of their own site... offering insight into how things could be improved etc... somewhat arrogant and self righteous in approach. It is always good to listen to your membership - especially if they have financially contributed/sponsored voluntarily - and not to take your money and run!!!True. I'm open to all criticism and suggestions, but those suggestions should come about in a civil manner and not violate the rules on posting. I don't want to limit on what someone can say, just how they can say it.

True. I'm open to all criticism and suggestions, but those suggestions should come about in a civil manner and not violate the rules on posting. I don't want to limit on what someone can say, just how they can say it.

That sounds like a Sandy Quote from TAZ. Nice Guy, but I disagee with that train of thought.

Without the members, you are nothing. IF they are ****ed enough to get curt with you, you probably have an issue. I'm sure there are exceptions.

Hmmm...I don't know who Sandy is on TAZ.

Why do you think if a member get's curt with the admin that the admin has an issue? A member can have an issue too. And realistically it goes both ways since everyone has issues (if they know it or not). The Admin knows what type of site they want and the members know what type of site they want. The good forum is when those match. That's a community.

Forums are a dime a dozen. What makes a good forum for a particular member is one that has a particular slant that approaches that particular type of person. And those slants fill the whole gamut of human behavior. Some forums are rough, some are clean, some are loose, some are strict. It's all about what you want to build and finding others that fill your community with the same values you want on your forum.

I'm really over the I gotta be respected thing to some degree. Show up, act half right and make me money. That's all I want.

It is very subjective, but I don't play politics anymore. I silently behind the scenes send anyone packing that needs it and I don't try to mold them to my idea of good.

Oh, I'm not concerned about if people respect me or anyone else. But they're not going to use a system I worked hard to set up to voice their disrespect towards other people. They can go and just yell in the street if they want to. The purpose of my forum rules are to prevent people from disrespecting others and to help steer me away from any liability.

The purpose of a forum IMO is to help facilitate communication between like-minded people, not to be a place where anyone can come to off-load their issues. That's the purpose of chat rooms, lol.

I use a variation of the same rules on all my forums. Basically I feel they serve to keep the content family orientated as well as protect the site legally as well.

You can view an example of my policies at http://www.chryslerminivan.net/legal.html

Posted below are our rules. I have 30 moderators to help enforce them. Most of the membership likes that the board is relatively heavily moderated. They feel that the board is family safe. A few think that we are too heavy handed, but usually those are folks who have been involved in some sort of trouble on the site.

* Flaming, the act of berating, provoking, or giving someone a "verbal lashing" in a public forum will not be tolerated on this board. DON'T DO IT! Abusive and foul language is also not tolerated. This is intended to be a family site, so keep it clean.

* Please think before you post. Many others will see your messages. If in doubt, rephrase it. You may not delete your message after posting it.

* Remember to post the results and outcomes of any questions you may have had. Chances are high it will help someone else in a similar circumstance.

* Use your own good judgment and try to moderate yourself. If you feel the topic is getting a bit off of topic, start a new one. Moderators will provide some "assistance" if required when topics start to stray, or close them if they persist. Lets not let it get that far. If you don't have anything constructive to post, perhaps it's best left out of the forums.

* Posts that are mean, derogatory, insulting or promote illegal activity may be removed from the board at the moderators/administrators discretion and can get you banned at the Administrators discretion.

* Advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are not allowed.

* Use the button to search through old messages to find the answer to your question.

* All commercial endeavors are prohibited unless specifically authorized by the sites administrator. Contact me for information regarding advertising and selling commercially on the site.

* Annoying and/or obnoxious behavior (to be determined by the Administrator or Moderators) will receive a warning. If this behavior continues, a ban will be the implemented, the length of the ban to be to be determined by the situation.

* The information provided within the "Serious Explorations"® message board are the opinions of many individuals and that information may not always be correct. It is best to use the group's opinion on a subject rather than the opinion of one specific member.

* If you have a problem with another forum member. Bring this to the attention of one of the Moderators or the Administrator. DON'T post your problems to the board.

* Do not register more than one username especially to avoid being banned. If we catch you the ban will be permanent.

* Elite Explorers may not post attachments for non-Elite members. Being able to post photos on the site is an incentive to bring in new members. Posting for non-Elites makes it that much easier for them to not become a supporter of the site.

* Users that violate the guidelines continuously may be banned from the board at the Administrators discretion.


We recently came up a written banning policy. Up until now we dealt with each situation individually. This led to problems of inconsistancy. It seems that my moderators were banning people who I would have issued warning to. So here are our new rules for moderators regarding banning and warnings:

The rules at Explorerforum are not hard and fast and I have made them that way. The rules mention discretion and that's what we're here for. It's up to us to determine what's a minor infraction, what's said in jest, how long a person has been a member of the site in good standing etc. Discretion, the trait of judging wisely and objectively.

Once a person is banned they need to be told they've been banned with an e-mail not a PM. Banned users can't get PMs. (spammers do not need to be notified)

When you email the user to tell them they are being temporarily banned. Tell them that they cannot register with a new username or they will be banned permanently. Also, tell them to contact me if they have any questions concerning the ban. rick@explorerforum.com.

If for any reason you don't want to email the person, PM me with all the details of the ban including any links and I'll take care of it.


A review of our sites rules:


* Flaming, the act of berating, provoking, or giving someone a "verbal lashing" in a public forum will not be tolerated on this board. DON'T DO IT! Abusive and foul language is also not tolerated. This is intended to be a family site, so keep it clean.

This is the first rule for a reason. I believe this is the most important rule we have. Foul language is never ok when directed towards another member. Some words which are not in the software censor were left out purposely. Bitch, ****, ass are not censored. Pulling a clutch is a pain in the ass is ok... Telling a user they're a pain in the ass is not.

Punishment -
1st Offense Warning
2nd Offense 1 week ban
3rd offense 1 month ban
4th offense permanent miserable



* Posts that are mean, derogatory, insulting or promote illegal activity may be removed from the board at the moderators/administrators discretion and can get you banned at the Administrators discretion.

Promoting illegal activity. Telling people where to go and buy pot is not allowed, talking about personal experience with pot is. This example is being given because some took peoples admission of smoking pot to be promoting it. I beleive there is a distinction.

Any instructions for building bombs, or other destructive devices are not allowed.

Planning to meet someone to "kick there ass" is not allowed.

"Posts that are mean, derogatory and insulting" All of those are VERY subjective and they should fall in the same catagory as "berating and verbal lashing" which are also very subjective. Again we need to judge wisely and objectively.


Punishment -
1st Offense Warning
2nd Offense 1 week ban
3rd offense 1 month ban
4th offense permanent miserable


* Advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are not allowed.

Those who come to the board just to post that crap can be banned permanently with no notice. Those who are trying to sell something Explorer related to the boards members should be directed to me.

* Use the button to search through old messages to find the answer to your question.

We as moderators need to realize that for many people this is the first message board they've ever used. Although some people are definately lazy. If you see a member who has a lot of posts and they keep asking stupid questions, well they're fair game. But someone who has just signed up, you can't assume they know how useful a websites search function is. And then there is always the "Showing results 1 to 15 of 1500" That's what I just got when I searched for "tire size". Now if I just add the model year to the search the results are much more refined... but a new user doesn't know that.


* Annoying and/or obnoxious behavior (to be determined by the Administrator or Moderators) will receive a warning. If this behavior continues, a ban will be the implemented, the length of the ban to be to be determined by the situation.

Another rule that is left to our discretion.

Punishment -
1st Offense Warning
2nd Offense 1 week ban
3rd offense 1 month ban
4th offense permanent miserable



* If you have a problem with another forum member. Bring this to the attention of one of the Moderators or the Administrator. DON'T post your problems to the board.

This should go both ways. If we have a problem with a member who did something in a thread, don't "call them out" in the thread. PM them to tell them your concerns.

* Do not register more than one username especially to avoid being banned. If we catch you the ban will be permanent.

As I said before the person being banned must be notified of this rule at the time they are e-mailed about their ban.

* Elite Explorers may not post attachments for non-Elite members. Being able to post photos on the site is an incentive to bring in new members. Posting for non-Elites makes it that much easier for them to not become a supporter of the site.

Punishment -
1st Offense Warning
2nd Offense 1 week ban
3rd offense 1 month ban
4th offense permanent miserable

* Users that violate the guidelines continuously may be banned from the board at the Administrators discretion.

If you have any questions about banning a member contact me. :thumbsup:

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Added 5/17/05

We should make the notes as to how far along the user is in the banning process in the "User Notes" area. If you're not familiar with "User Notes" go to any users Profile (http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/member.php?u=36028) and look near the bottom of the box that says "Forum Info" you will see this: User Notes: 0 [View (http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/usernote.php?u=36028)]

I selected the user "Cherrybomb" by random as an example.

This is a good thread with a lot of information.

Like a lot of you, I don't have many rules. The biggest one is no porn or nudity images. The only people ever banned from my site are webmasters who ban me from theirs. A grand total of three people since 2001.

The rules on my site (http://www.cyburbia.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14714) (Cyburbia) are fairly strict, but most are enforced with just mod warnings. Only a few warrant temporary suspension. Here's how it's worded in the monthly banning/suspension thread:

Suspension is at the discretion of message board moderators and administrators. but it's usually for the following reasons:

* Image leeching.
* Bad e-mail address - usually vBulletin-generated messages (thread subscription, private message and birthday notifications) that bounce because the user's registered e-mail address no longer exists or is over quota.
* Challenge/response e-mail blocking - usually vBulletin-generated messages that are bounced, with an additional "click here and type the text in the CAPTCHA image to be added to the user's approved sender list"-type message.
* To give a time-out period in response to persistent rule violations or acting like a jerk.
* Major rule violations that don't necessarily warrant banning.

We're tough on image leeching, because many users visit the site from work. We don't want to see Goatse unintentionally pop up in a thread, especially when someone is visiting from a workplace computer.

It takes a lot to get banned; aside from a few persistent trolls and a couple of sockpuppet users, most banned users are spammers. Again, in plain English from the monthly banned/suspended user threads:

Banning is also at the discretion of message board moderators and administrators. Users are most often banned for advertising and other non-planning-related drive-by posts that are not intended to foster discussion, but rather make an announcement. Posts from new users, whose motives are not entirely known, are looked at more critically than those of established users. New users posting messages that exhibit signs of Internet kookery -- conspiracy and tinfoil hat theories, rambling and often incoherent prose, and so on -- may also be banned.

Why are the rules tough? Among urban planners, there is a deeply entrenced mailing list/listserv culture. A message board has been operating on Cyburbia since 1996, but there has been a hard time generating "traction" until just recently. There is a perception among planners that mailing lists are "more serious," and some have told me they don't use the message, just because it includes an off-topic subforum. The rules are in place to maintain legitimacy among the planning community, while still permiting discussion about fantasy football, Battlestar Galactica or dating woes. We've found that the rules haven't driven off any potential users.

I got no specific rules stated at my forum.

There is not really a requirement if you can manage your site well!

How you manage your site has nothing to do with how people act or post on your site.

If you don't want them bashing, flaming, stalking, demeaning, other members, then you need rules.
If you don't want them posting copywritten images and pics, then you need rules

How you manage your site has nothing to do with how people act or post on your site.

If you don't want them bashing, flaming, stalking, demeaning, other members, then you need rules.
If you don't want them posting copywritten images and pics, then you need rulesPlus, there are some legal liabilities that you are exposed to if you don't expressly state your site's stance. This has yet to be a serious problem in the forum business, from what I gather. But with the sue-happy culture we live in, it's best to be on guard from those that wish to take what you've worked hard for via the legal system.